tips and tricks for making your creative bath times thrifty, easier, and more manageable!

Cleaning

Bleach Water in a Spray Bottle: If you experience any staining from paints or food coloring, a simple 2:1 water/bleach mixture should take care of it! Out of all the baths we've done, only on rare occasions have I experienced any staining, but I simply misted the tub and walls with the bleach water and the stains were gone in minutes! You may want to crack a window or keep children out of the area for a bit to vent the area, as the bleach smell in a small area can be pretty strong.

*If you've painted the walls, it's best to wash and remove the paint promptly after bathtime is over. *

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser: For any tough smudges, ring grime, i've used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and it works fantastically! A Magic Eraser also easily removes crayon from tub walls (just ask me how I know THAT lol)

Strainer: We often add things to the bath that shouldn't go down the drain such as water beads, fake snow, etc. A small strainer comes in handy for fishing the items from the bath that you don't want going down the drain when bathtime is over. You'll prevent a lot of clogging woes if you strain the majority of the gunk out first.

Beach Towels: Splashing and water getting on the floor is pretty much inevitable and not something to fret about, but you can minimize the mess by Investing in a few extra large beach towels to spread at the edge of the tub during bathtime which should catch most of the water or bubbles that get splashed on the floor.

Creating

Creating a fun bath should cost little to nothing.

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Use what you already have: Most of the time, our fun bath inspiration comes from looking around the house. We try to use only things we already have on hand...shaving cream, fake plants, paint, toys, koolaid, cups and bowls, a colored sheet to hang from the shower curtain, miscellaneous party supplies from a past birthday party such as balloons or streamers, etc.

Shop thrift stores: Wescour Goodwill, Salvation Army, and other thrift stores for craft supplies and other miscellaneous objects that can be used in the baths. Sometimes inspiration for a bath comes from a cheap thrift store find, such as fake plants or VERY cheap holiday decor. Other times we have a certain bath idea in mind so the first place we go to look for any items we may want to use that we don't already have at home is a thrift store. The most we've ever spent is $5 max on a thrift store item for our baths.

Make homemade paints: make all sorts of fun but frugalbath paints using homemade recipes such as THESE.Craft Foam: We often use Craft Foam as an added play element that doubles as decoration in our baths. Craft foam is great to use in the bath because it sticks to wet walls and itself. You can purchase craft foam in individual sheets in EVERY color you can think of, or in large packs. It can be found at Hobby Lobby, Michael's Craft Stores, Joann, Walmart, etc. and it is very cheap. Individual sheets from large or small usually cost less than $1, and because they are reusable, it makes it a very inexpensive way to make bath time lots of fun! Sheets can be cut into any shape to make "bath stickers" such as THESE, or THESE or you can also purchase tons of fun pre-cut shapes like flowers, people, sports balls, cars and traffic signs, nativity scenes, stars and planets, bugs, etc. Craft foam can also be purchased online.

Shaving Cream: Shaving cream is a VERY inexpensive way to make bathtime LOTS of fun! Barobasol shaving cream is the least expensive and can usually be purchased for less than $2. You can find this brand or others in sensitive skin alternatives as well. Shaving cream all on it's own is fun, however, you can very quickly and easily turn it into funBATH PAINTS SUCH AS THESE!

Duct Tape, Electrical Tape, Masking Tape: We've used duct tape, electrical tape and masking tape in so many of our baths that we now keep these regularly on hand. You may already have one some of these already, but if you are doing fun baths, you'll come to realize that they really come in handy for the obvious reason of sticking objects to the wall, BUT THE BEST PART is that duct tape comes in so many different colors now that we often use duct tape as a decoration in itself. You can find all kinds of colors and patters...even one with mustaches on it! It's a cheap and easy way to decorate for specific bath themes.

However, there are a few differences you need to know about duct tape and masking tape.Duct Tape is thicker and can hold heavier things to the wall, BUT, if it gets wet it will NOT STICK to tub walls. We place duct tape in areas that aren't going to get much water splashed, or if we just really want it to decorate with and it's in a "will get wet" area, I place it while the tub is totally dry, smooth it down really well, and just hope it lasts through the whole bath (and usually it does), but sometimes it does slip off. Oh well...

Masking Tape doesn't come in those pretty colors and designs as duct tape, but the great thing about it, is that it doesn't detach from the tub walls when they get wet. So we use this alot when sticking smaller objects to the tub walls that don't require any heavy duty tape.

Electrical tape comes in a few different colors and can hold up well in the tub.We usually have this tape on hand for arts and crafts, so it gets used in the tub as well.

We hope these tips and tricks help to assure you that creating fun baths can be just that...fun, without being stressful. Remember that you can always start small with simple bath ideas such as THESE. I think you'll discover as we did, that creating these baths can actually become a creative outlet for yourself! It is so fun to see an idea for a bath come to life when your tub is transformed into a playroom for your child, and the fun they have..the smiles and laughter..makes it all worth it!